


Consumption

by snarkymuch



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man (Tom Holland Movies)
Genre: Eating Disorder Not Otherwise Specified, Gen, He Doesn't Notice He's Developing An Eating Disorder, Irondad, Light Angst, Peter Parker Gets In Over His Head, Peter Parker has an eating disorder, Tony Stark Acting as Peter Parker's Parental Figure, Tony Stark Has A Heart, calorie counting
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-12
Updated: 2020-10-12
Packaged: 2021-03-07 23:54:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,593
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26976169
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/snarkymuch/pseuds/snarkymuch
Summary: Written for the prompt:Sorry if this is weirdly specific. Peter’s calorie counting app helps him relax. Tony’s not sure that’s healthy. Not an eating disorder prompt per se - more like Tony catching a troubling pattern early and trying to nip it in the bud.
Relationships: Peter Parker & Tony Stark
Comments: 28
Kudos: 179





	Consumption

**Author's Note:**

> Trigger Warning for Eating Disorder if you didn't read the tags

Peter checked the back of the crinkly cellophane wrapper, noting the calories. One hundred and fifty in just one of the two cakes in the package. That seemed like a lot for a measly mass-produced coffee cake barely the size of a plum. He started to regret eating it a little, but instead, he pushed the feeling aside, focusing on the numbers and logging them into the app on his phone.

It was a calorie tracking app, and he hadn’t meant to keep it past his initial experiments with his metabolism. Still, the habit he’d formed over those few months logging the data had become something of a comforting ritual. He liked the familiarity of it. It soothed his nerves. The simple process of recording each thing he ate helped calm him.

Today he’d already eaten nearly three thousand calories, and sickly, he realized most of them were from junk. He absently touched his stomach and poked his belly through his shirt. It didn’t feel soft, but that was probably only due to his insane metabolism and extracurricular activities.

Setting the phone down on his desk, he leaned back in his chair and looked out the window. It was still early enough he could go out, so snapping his chair back onto four legs, he hopped up and grabbed his suit from the closet, making quick work of changing. May wouldn’t be home for a few more hours. She’d had switched to the swing shift for the rest of the week, so she was at work until nearly midnight.

It turned out to be a quiet night, but he did stop a bike theft and saved a dog from being run over, so he called it a win. The kid whose dog he’d rescued gave him a Snickers in thanks, and Peter had taken it to a nearby roof to eat.

During his initial experiment where he logged his calories, he’d installed the program into Karen, syncing it to his phone, helping to keep track of the data. It was only supposed to be for six weeks, but that had gone out the window. Not even Tony knew he was still logging the calories. Honestly, it didn’t seem like a big enough thing to bring up. It seemed relatively harmless, almost like a game. There were a few times he’d challenged himself to go with the bare minimum of calories. It wasn’t like he did it to hurt himself. It had just become addictive in a way.

Sitting on the building's ledge, he twirled the candy bar in his hands and then stopped to examine the nutrition facts. It wasn’t good at all. It had two hundred and fifteen in just one bar. That made his stomach twist funny. It wasn’t the first time lately that he’d hesitated over something’s calorie count.

“Karen, can you bring up my logbook?”

“Sure, Peter.”

His daily and weekly totals showed on the HUD. He cringed at how much he’d already eaten.

“Thanks, Karen. I saw what I needed. You can close it. I think I’m gonna head home. I’m feeling kinda tired now.”

“Of course, Peter. I’ll plot a course.”

Peter dropped down to the street and passed the candy bar off to the first homeless person he saw. He didn’t need to eat. Just making that choice gave him a rush of control, a little thrill. It felt good in a bad way to deny himself.

* * *

After school the next day, Peter was due to go to the tower to visit Tony. They were going to work on integrating the nanotech into his web-shooters. While he sat in the back of the black Audi as Happy maneuvered them in and out of traffic, Peter soothed his frazzled nerves from the day by looking over his app and seeing what he logged.

He’d done better about controlling his choices. He’d cut out most of the junk, other than the school pizza anyway, but he knew he needed some fat for his metabolism to burn. It wasn’t like he was planning to starve himself. He just liked the feeling denying himself gave him. When school and Spider-man had him stressed, this, this was something that he could control.

Happy didn’t say much as he drove, only calling over his shoulder once to see if Peter wanted him to swing by McDonald’s before they got to the tower. Maybe a few weeks ago, even a few days ago, he might have said yes, but today he wasn’t feeling it. He could only think about how many calories it was.

“No, I’m good. I ate at school.”

Happy met his gaze through the mirror, seeming to search his face. “If you’re sure. You used to eat half the menu. What changed?”

Peter shrugged, turning to look out the window. “Nothing, just not hungry.” He glanced back at Happy and tried for a smile. It probably looked forced.

Happy hummed to himself then raised the divider, leaving Peter to his thoughts.

When they got to the tower, Peter waved bye to Happy and then headed to the elevator, asking Friday to take him to whatever floor Tony was on. It turned out to be the workshop.

Music played from somewhere in the workshop, and Tony was bent over his workbench, tools in hand. The volume lowered automatically when Peter entered, making Tony look up.

“Hey, kid, how goes the spidey battle?”

Peter shrugged. “Nothing to report. Things have been okay. May’s working a lot this week, got detention once for falling asleep, but that was totally not my fault.”

Tony rolled his eyes. “Let me guess, Tuesday? I check the reports. You were out until a little after midnight on Monday.”

“Oh, yeah, well, May is working new hours.”

“So, you thought you should ignore your curfew?”

Peter winced. “Yes?”

Tony snorted, shaking his head. “Toss your bag on the chair and get over here. We have work to do.”

They worked together for a few hours until Tony’s stomach made an audible protest, making the man pause. “I think it’s probably time to call it quits for the night and get something to eat.”

Peter froze for a second. “Oh, um, yeah, I’m not really that hungry, though. I’ll be fine.”

“Give me a break, Pete. I’ve seen the data. I know how much you need to eat. I’ll order up some pies, and we can eat upstairs.”

He tried to smile, but he only managed to make the corners of his mouth twitch. “Okay, yeah. Pizza sounds good.”

When the food came, Tony set the pizza boxes on the counter and grabbed them each a plate, plopping two big slices on top of each other on Peter’s.

Following Tony to the living room, they sat on the couch, and Peter started nibbling on his pizza. After the first slice was gone, he paused, setting his plate on his lap to pull out his phone. Not thinking about Tony in the same room, he opened the app and started inputting his meal's data. He was already stressing a little about having two slices on his plate. It was going to be a lot of calories. It was a good thing he hadn’t eaten much before coming over.

Tony’s voice pulled him from his thoughts.

“Isn’t that the metabolic recording app I designed? I thought we were all done with that. Why are you still using it?”

“Huh? Oh, this?” Peter flashed him his phone screen. “Um, yeah. It’s the same program. I was just—I was just doing a little more research to confirm our findings. That’s all. Nothing to worry about.”

“I wasn’t worried about it, but I gotta say, now I’m a little curious as to why you’re lying about it. It’s cute how you think you can pass one by me, Pinocchio.”

Peter’s eyes went wide, and he stared at Tony, unsure what to say. It wasn’t like he was trying to hide anything, but Tony wouldn’t understand either. “I wasn’t—it’s stupid.”

“Stupid is as stupid does,” Tony said, taking a bite of pizza. “No truer words.”

“What? Is that a reference?”

“Heathen. Enough distracting me. What’s up, muchacho?”

Peter fiddled with his phone, and then stuffed it into his hoodie pouch, setting his plate on the coffee table after. Without meeting Tony’s gaze, he cleared his throat and tried to think of a way to explain it.

“It’s really not a big deal. I don’t know why we have to talk about it.”

“You not wanting to talk about it is precisely why we need to, so spill.”

Sighing, Peter bit the bullet and started his stuttered explanation.

“Putting in the numbers, it became sorta like a habit, I guess. It was cool seeing a chart of what I’ve eaten. I know it sounds weird.” Peter chanced a look at Tony. The man had set his pizza down on the coffee table, too. His expression was scrutinizing. “So, um, I kinda set myself goals, you know? Just like can I stay under a certain amount, or other days, I could eat better. I don’t know how it started. But the process, the numbers, they were soothing. They are soothing.” Peter kept his gaze on his hands that were clasped in his lap, unsure what he was hiding from. It wasn’t like what he was doing was that bad. “So, yeah, that’s what’s up. Told you it’s nothing big.”

Tony was quiet for a moment until Peter heard him let out a breath. When he glanced up, Tony was scratching at his chin, his head tilted to the side, eyes sharp and cutting right through Peter.

“Pete, that’s the definition of something big or the start of it. I don’t know a lot about head shrinking, but I’ve seen enough after school specials to know you’re on a slippery slope.”

“It’s not—I’m not anorexic or anything. I swear. It’s just the app. I’m not trying to lose weight. I’m not starving myself. You just watched me eat.”

Tony sighed, scrubbing a hand over his mouth before dropping it. “Kid, I know you might not see it that way, but trust me on this. From the outside, it doesn’t look healthy.”

Peter frowned, trying to think over his actions through a different lens. If this had been someone else, MJ or Ned, Peter would probably be feeling the same way as Tony. Then why didn’t it feel like a big deal for him to do it? Was what he was doing really that dangerous? His brow furrowed in thought.

“It doesn’t feel like it’s that bad. Wouldn’t I know if I had an eating disorder?”

Tony shook his head a little, then shrugged his shoulder, wiggling his hand back and forth like he was weighing options. “You could, or it could just be the start of one. Either way, I think the first step should be getting rid of that app, remove the temptation. Though I think you might need more than that.”

“Like what?” Peter asked, already feeling a little anxious at the idea of losing his app. It was like a security blanket for him. He’d been logging for months. He didn’t want to lose all that data. It was like a journal of his good and bad days, his accomplishments, and his failures. Sometimes he did like looking back and studying the past weeks, seeing where he could have done better. The action itself soothed him. And now he was losing that.

“I don’t know, therapy would be my first guess, and I think your aunt needs to know, so she can keep an eye on things. I don’t know a lot about eating disorders, but I know about addiction, and I think they share some traits.”

Peter sank back into the couch, looking over at Tony with a frown. “Do we have to tell her? It just feels weird. Like it doesn’t feel like this is really a problem. I felt in control like I knew what I was doing. It doesn’t feel dangerous or like an eating disorder. I don’t want to worry her over nothing.”

“I need you to put on your listening ears here, kid. If this were anyone else, would you feel the same? I don’t think you would. I think Spider-Man would feel the same way I do. I’m not worried over nothing, and you shouldn’t just brush this aside. This could be the start of something that could take over your life. I don’t want that for you, Pete.”

Thinking back to MJ and Ned, Peter knew the truth. He knew that for anyone else, he would be concerned.

Sighing, he nodded slowly while twisting his fingers in his lap. “Okay, we can tell her, and I’ll delete the app. As much as I don’t want to believe it, maybe you’re right.”

“Okay, do you want to tell her together?”

Peter licked his lips, pulling his bottom lip between his teeth, chewing on it as he thought. He wasn’t sure he would have the courage to tell her on his own, but if Tony were there, maybe it would be the push he needed. If only he could get over the feeling of shame that was building in him, shame for letting this become a problem in the first place. He thought he was smarter than that. He should have known, should have seen the signs. How could he be so blind?

“Yeah, but can we wait until tomorrow to tell her? I’m not ready tonight.”

“That’s fine. I don’t think you're in immediate danger. If I thought that, this would have gone differently. I think we can take our time and figure out how to tell her. Your hot aunt probably knows a few things about this, given her career path.” Tony raised a brow, waggling a finger a Peter. “Don’t make that face. Didn’t anyone ever tell you your face could get stuck that way?”

“I’m not making a face.”

Tony scoffed. “You looked like your sucking on a Warhead.”

“Ew, I hate those.”

“The youth of today appreciate nothing.” Tony reached over to the coffee table and grabbed his abandoned dinner. Taking a bite of the cold pizza. He waved a hand in the direction of Peter’s remaining slice. “Eat up, kiddo. Cold pizza is the best pizza.”

With a nod, Peter sat forward and grabbed his plate, picking his slice of pizza up with his other hand. With probably too much thought about what he was feeling, he took a bite. He realized as he focused on what he felt that there was a tiny spike of fear, and he knew that wasn’t normal. This was something new in the last few months.

Now that he thought about it, he could remember that little feeling attached to most of his meals, getting more prominent as time went on. His fingers itched to record the calories, and he realized that he did have a problem. Something else inside him was steering his decisions, and he didn’t know how to feel about that. The knowledge hit him hard, making an invisible band tighten around his chest.

He pushed the feelings aside the best he could and focused on eating. He wouldn’t let this beat him. He’d tell May, and he’d do better. Spider-Man, Peter Parker, wouldn’t let this get him down. He’d find a way to fight it, and he was pretty sure he could. He had Tony and May in his corner.

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you liked it. I'm still open to prompts and you can find me on tumblr [here](https://snarky-drabbles.tumblr.com/)


End file.
